If You Build It They Will Come

Mmmmm, my usual evening cup of decaf coffee with Vanilla Caramel creamer and pondering what I'm going to write on my blog!

I promised you yesterday that I would tell you what Country Boy and I were doing to wear ourselves slap  out.  So here goes from the beginning (long story so I hope you have your cup of coffee or tea *smile*)!

A year ago.... we had a single feeder out in my flower garden that had an old, plastic, half circle from a dining room light over it as a squirrel baffle that worked really well.  I had lots of birds on it UNTIL... we built a gazebo in my garden.  The squirrels figured out how to jump directly onto the feeder from the gazebo.  Aargh!  Needless to say, I stopped putting bird feed in the feeder because it would be gone in one day.  My neighbor had this awesome bird feeder station that seemed to work well at keeping the squirrels off the bird feeders and there were always a lot of birds on it whenever I was visiting them.  Since I love having birdies in my yard, I wanted a bird feeder station too.  Several weeks ago, Country Boy built one for me.  (Yes, I am quite spoiled!)

Since we have lots of trees in our yard we had to find the perfect spot for the feeder station.  We found it on the side yard just at the edge of our tree line for the birdies to hide in but far enough out so the squirrels couldn't jump from the trees.  So far, so good!  Problem was, a pair of cardinals checked it out but didn't come back.  Then, some smaller birds checked it out but they didn't come back either.  So, I figured that they didn't like the bird seed I had in the feeders.  Being my frugal self, I bought a different bag of seed that was bigger and cheaper.  Now I know why!  My birds don't like it.  *sigh* I went back to the usual food I was buying before and waited.  I felt like Kevin Costner in the movie Field of Dreams... if you build it they will come!  After waiting a couple of days since I put the new bird seed in the feeders, the cardinals came back.  Then some smaller birds started checking it out.  I was so excited I grabbed a folding camping chair and sat in the yard for hours.  (I thought I was only there for an hour or so but when I went back in the house it was after 4:00 and my cheeks were rosy!)  Anyway, while I was sitting there, I decided that I needed a patio in the corner of the house so that I could sit there and watch my birds and take photos of them.  When Country Boy got off work the next morning I told him my bright idea.  He liked it especially since we've been trying to figure out what to do with that corner; so after a hearty breakfast, we went to work.

Here's the before picture.  Country Boy had already raked and put a wheelbarrow load of sand down before I could get outside to snap the before picture!  Notice Precious checking out the cart loaded with bricks!

We worked for awhile, then decided to change the pattern of the bricks, so we pulled them up and started over.  Country Boy says, "You and your bright ideas!"  But, after a hard days' work here's how it turned out...

Here's a closer view...

The chairs I want to use are in our RV which is in the shop right now, so these will have to do.

The best part about this patio?  Zero dollars spent!  Everything we used were leftovers from previous projects!  Gotta love that!

I moved two gardenia bushes that I had in my flower garden to the corners.  I'm hoping they will do better with a little more sunshine!

What do you think of my bird watching patio?  We enjoyed sitting out there this afternoon.  I was snapping pictures while Country Boy was catching some ZZZZ's!

Tufted Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse Bathing

Even the squirrels like the bird bath!

Carolina Chickadee

Female Cardinal

Tufted Titmouse

It was an exciting day in the front yard.  I am hoping that each day a few more birds will show up.

I also saw my first butterfly of this season and unfortunately, none of my butterfly plants are blooming yet so it flitted right on out of my yard in hopes of finding some blooms.

Till next time,